Next Year
by gemmi999
Summary: For Kurt it stopped being about surviving high school ages ago. Now he wants to conquer it, leave in a blaze so bright people won't be able to forget it, forget him. Post-Ep for Prom Queen. Essentially gen, with some mentions of Klaine.


A/N: Just a quick post-ep to the recent Prom Queen episode.

Summary: For Kurt it stopped being about surviving high school ages ago. Now he wants to conquer it, leave in a blaze so bright people won't be able to forget it, forget him. Essentially gen, with some mentions of Klaine.

##

Kurt's good at walking down the hallway with his head held high. He knows how to pick out the perfect outfit that says both "fuck you" and "you wish you could look this good" while simultaneously doing glorious things for his ass. He knows when to fight back, and more importantly, he knows how to wound somebody just by speaking. These are all skills he's fought hard to develop and he's _proud_ of them in a way he's not sure he could ever explain. For him it stopped being about surviving high school ages ago. Now he wants to conquer it, leave in a blaze so bright people won't be able to forget it, forget him. He figures it'll be his last big "fuck you" to this hellhole of a town.

None of this is conscious anymore, though; he's been doing it for so long it's his default setting. The first day after prom, when he's climbing out of the navigator, hair perfectly styled and outfit carefully selected for maximum protection against potential icy beverages while still maintaining his natural allure, Kurt doesn't even notice the facade slipping into place.

He's walking down the hallway towards his hallway when he notices something different. He's used to people looking at him, commenting on his outfits, on his attitude, but today they just seem to be staring. He's heard a couple conversations' stop as he walked by, but no one's said anything. He hasn't heard a single "fag" or "queermo" or even "queen" whispered and frankly, that's more then a little shocking. He shrugs inwardly and continues towards his locker. He has better things to do then try and figure out this fucked up mess of a school.

Which is why he's slightly startled when someone says "Hey Kurt," and reaches out with a hand to stop him from walking by. It's a Cheerio but he doesn't remember her from his short time on the squad. She's probably new-Sue had gone more then a little bit crazy trying to fill the vacancies left over from when Brittany, Quinn and Santana left the squad.

Kurt stops and looks at the cheerleader. "Can I help you?"

She doesn't say anything for a second, just looks at him. Kurt shifts from foot to foot and is debating just walking away when she speaks again: "Just-I wanted to apologize."

"I don't even know who you are, why do you need to apologize to me?" Kurt asks, voice almost quietly deceptive. He knows exactly what she's apologizing for.

She looks down at her feet and doesn't say anything for another minute. Kurt is seriously, seriously debating just walking way form this entire mess when she speaks once more. "Look, I voted for you for that stupid prom queen thing, alright?"

Kurt looks at her, stares at her. "Okay, and you're telling me this why? 2/3rds of the school voted for me."

"Well, I feel bad about it!" She stomps her foot. "You're making it really difficult to apologize though."

"And it's my job to make it easier for you?" Kurt raises an eyebrow.

"No." She sighs. "It's just-"

"It's just you feel guilty so you thought you'd apologize, get me to feel guilty for not forgiving you, and then I'd forgive you and you could continue on with your day without all these feelings, right?" Kurt looks at her, not even bothering to look the slightly bit forgiving.

"No, I thought I'd apologize, say that you rocked that damn tiara and crown in a way nobody else could, including Kate Middleton, and then I'd go on with my day while leaving you standing here in the middle of the hall staring at me." She replies angrily. "So, bye."

The girl walks away without looking over her shoulder; Kurt watches as she disappears into a nearby classroom before shrugging to himself and continuing down the hallway. People are still looking at him, watching him, and he's waiting for the moment when they're all going to start laughing but he makes it to his locker this time and nobody's uttered so much as a single "ha".

Kurt's standing there, trying to juggle both his math and Spanish book, when somebody clears their throat besides him. He deliberately takes his time grabbing the two textbooks before looking up. It's-and it dawns on Kurt he has no idea who this new person is. He's not wearing a letterman jacket, not in Glee. Kurt isn't even sure if he's in his **grade**.

"Um, Kurt?" The guy looks at him and Kurt nods, warily.

"That's me." And god, when did he get so wary?

"Do you have a second?"

The boy looks nervous and Kurt feels a little bit guilty for how he treated the Cheerio earlier. "I have a few minutes before I have to go to Spanish. How can I help you, um-I'm sorry, you have to forgive me, I don't know your name."

"Oh, I'm Chris." The boy holds out his hand and Kurt looks him up and down before shifting his texts and shaking it.

"Hi Chris. I'm Kurt, but I think you already know that. So how can I help you today?"

"Can't I just want to hang out in the presence of royalty?" The boy asks, bashfully.

"I take it you saw me get crowned." Kurt says, voice dry.

"Yeah." Chris looks around the hallway before leaning in. "Look, it sucks that it happened and I'm sorry that most of our class can be such dicks, but really you were kind of cool about it."

Kurt nods. This is the second person to come up to him about this and he's *really* not sure if he likes this trend.

"So I thought you should know that it was kind of amazing how you accepted it on your own terms and danced with your boyfriend. You guys looked really sweet together."

"Thanks." Kurt smiles at the boy. He's nice, and it's a bit startling to realize that there are actually students at McKinley who aren't douchebags, that are just genuinely nice people who don't care that he's gay.

"I just wish I'd had the balls to bring my boyfriend. He would have thought the two of you were adorable." Chris says, winking at Kurt, before turning and walking away.

Kurt blinks for a second. He's not sure this day can get any weirder. He's had Cheerio's apologize and random boys comes out to him and just—first period hasn't even **started** yet.

So of course it does, the law of tempting fate or whatever. Kurt's sitting with the other gleeks at lunch, minding his own business, when he feels a tap on his shoulder.

"Porcelain."

Kurt takes a deep breath because he knows that Coach Sylvester is behind him and he isn't quite sure what she wants, just knows it's probably going to be bad. He heard what she did to Artie during the dance and he isn't sure he wants to meet her dental tools up close and personal just yet; hell, he's pretty sure he doesn't want to see them ever.

"Coach Sylvester." Kurt says, carefully modulating his tone to keep any emotion from creeping out.

"My office, three minutes. I suggest you finish that pathetic salad you're calling a lunch and run there because if you're late you will not like the consequences."

She doesn't wait for a response, just turns and exits the cafeteria in the same stealth like manner in which she'd entered. Kurt just sits there for a second, stunned. She hasn't really *talked* to him since he came back, just nodded a few times in passing and Kurt isn't sure he wants to go be subjected to her brand of crazy today of all days. He's already feeling a bit unsettled from earlier.

"Are you fucking crazy Hummel?" Santana's voice startles him out of his intersection. "Get your ass moving, you don't want to be late."

Kurt nods, looks at his salad before sighing and standing up, grabbing his book bag. "Throw this out for me, will you?" He says to the table in general before turning and breaking out into a full-on run. He has at least two minutes but he wants to be in her office, waiting, when the three-minute mark actually hits.

He glides into her office with seconds to spare, sits down on one of the uncomfortable chairs in front of her desk and works on catching his breath. It isn't good to appear in anyway vulnerable in front of Coach Sylvester.

She turns around to face him exactly as the clock ticks past the three-minute mark. "Porcelain," she says. "It has come to my attention that while I was busy ensuring the student body would not succumb to alcohol induced paranoia at the Prom this past weekend that you were indeed voted Prom Queen. Now, I understand this is considered to be an honor in certain circles, and while I'm certain you have the bone structure to pull the tiara look off rather well, for the past seven years the Prom Queen has *always* been one of my cheerios. Normally the head cheerio. Which is why you will report to the gym immediately after Glee practice this afternoon and begin practicing."

"Practicing, Coach?" Kurt asks. He hates that he sounds a little timid.

"Yes, I have exactly three months before the end of the school year to whip you into shape. Next year you will be the head cheerio and as you get crowned Prom Queen once more the Cheerio's will resume their rightful place in this school. I'll have Becky start working on your campaign in the morning."

"But, coach-"

"Yes, yes. I know I'm being overly kind and generous by not only giving you private training sessions so you can rightfully take your place as Head Cheerio and thus rule the school, but I thought you of all people, Porcelain, would know that a successful campaign has to have a successful campaign manager. In fact, when I find out who was the campaign manager for this past weekend's Prom Queen elections, I shall have to ensure they continue the marvelous work and act as your spokesperson for next year as well. I foresee spending quite a bit of time with the young hooligan."

She smiles, baring all of her teeth, and Kurt shivers. She's more then slightly scary when she wants to be. "Thank you, Coach."

"Yes, well. You're going to need co-captains to help you conquer this school. If you have anybody in mind, let them know that I will not try to shoot anybody out of a cannon next year. I have a more sedate approach that I think will serve the Cheerio's well."

"Sedate approach?" Kurt asks, not really sure he even wants the answer.

"Zigfred and Roy don't have the market on white tigers cornered as exclusively as they think they do."

Kurt blinks. Well, he never thought he'd get to add "tiger tamer" to his college applications. Might even be good for a personal statement or two.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Coach Sylvester looks at Kurt, eyes narrowed. "Get out of here. And when I see you again you'd better have at least 1 co-captain with you."

Kurt doesn't bother replying before walking out of her office calmly, rationally. It's only when he's three hallways away that he smiles, pulls his cell phone out to text Blaine. He's going to *rule* this school next year, if Coach Sylvester has her way. And he doesn't think he'll mind it, at all.

Kurt floats through the last periods of the day, daydreaming of next years Prom. He'll go with Blaine, and maybe this time he'll be able to talk Blaine into kilt, or a more fashion-forward tuxedo. Marc Jacobs will have his new collection out by then and Kurt's pretty sure he can finagle something that will meet Blaine's desire to understated while still being suave and sheik. Coach Sylvester will have to get the rules changed, so students from other schools can be crowned royalty, but Kurt doesn't doubt that she can do that with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back. He'll have a better acceptance speech ready, something that says HBIC, and he'll slow dance with Blaine and the entire school will be cheering them on, not laughing behind his back.

He walks into Glee with a bright smile on his face, ready to practice for Nationals. He sits next to Santana and is practically vibrating with happiness.

"So what'd Coach want?" Santana interrupts his daydreams.

Kurt looks at her and grins, smiles, is happy as he says: "I'm going to be head cheerio next year."

Santana gapes at him, looks him up and down and then says: "Alright. I can see it. You'd be a total rocking HBIC." Her voice is kind of strange, though, withdrawn, and Kurt doesn't know what that means.

"I know!" Kurt bounces in his seat. "And the best part is she wants me to win Prom Queen next year through intimidation!"

"Prom queen too, huh?" Santana says. And that's when Kurt actually stops bouncing for a second to look at her.

"Of course, I couldn't do any of this without trusty co-captains. I was thinking you and Britt would be acceptable." Kurt says. "I'd need people who are bitchy enough not to care what people are saying, but still able to intimidate with just a look in their eyes."

Santana looks at him as he says this, her eyes are shining and Kurt's not sure if she's happy or crying, but suddenly she's hugging him. Tightly. "You have my vote."

Kurt seruptitiously looks around the room before whispering: "and if my two co-captains happen to be the cutest couple in McKinley history? They might just have my vote, instead."

Santana pulls back. "You think me and Britt-"

"I think I'm going to make it my mission. You deserve to be just as happy, Santana." And if Kurt's eyes are watering too? Well, it's not like Santana's going to say anything.

"Thanks Hummel."

"Well, my friends call me Kurt."

"Don't press your luck."

As Kurt settles back, waiting for Glee to start, Kurt realizes he's already done it. He's already conquered high school and all of the petty people in it. He's their *prom queen* and yes, it might not have been by choice, but next year it will be. Next year he's going to rule the entire school, with Santana and Brittany at his sides. They'll own it.

And years from now people will remember Kurt, wonder where he is, and know he's doing something great with his life while the rest of the Lima Loser's are just that—Lima Losers. They'll think about prom and how they tried to show the queer that they were better, but Kurt knows that's not what they'll remember. They'll remember him dancing with Blaine, being happy and having fun, while they watched from the sidelines.

Mr. Shue comes in and starts talking, droning on and on about Nationals and song selections, but Kurt doesn't actually care. He will tomorrow, he's sure.

But today? He really just wants to bask for just a little bit longer.


End file.
